MOUNTAINS AFTER MOUNTAINS

Yeseul

“Get the plane ready, they’re on the way”

My brother told me through the phone and I cursed in my mind, stomping once on the ground with my right feet.

I thought I prayed enough last night for this NOT to happen, I was wrong. I’m screwed.

“This will get me in trouble Donghae”, I gritted out as I pulled my hair in frustration, glaring at the ground below me since I can’t glare at the person on the phone.

There’s only a month left until I officially get my license to fly and if they find out about this, they will surely expel me for sure.

I did not go through years of hell just to get dropped out.

“You won’t as long as they don’t know that it’s you” He replied with a calm tone and I sighed.

“They will know once the air traffic controllers recognize my voice”

“Relax, you’re not that important for them to remember your voice”

“Geez, thanks” I sarcastically said but somehow felt relief because he is somehow right.

But not only that, I am also quite nervous since this will be my first time flying with many passengers. What if something goes wrong?

“Hey, I believe in you alright? You can do this” He then tried to assure me that everything is going to be alright and I chuckled.

He knows that I’m nervous just by hearing my voice.

“Make me proud” he ended his sentence and I paused.

Suddenly, the smile on my face started to fade a little just by the last word that he said.

Proud..

“I know I will. You’re the only one that is capable of being proud of me” I said but couldn’t conceal the bitterness in my tone. Donghae paused for a while, probably in loss of words.

I nibbled on the lower part of my lip in regret, it’s been awhile since we’ve brought this up. I shouldn’t have but yet I did

“You know it’s not your fault that you're born as a norm right?”

My heart swelled again after being reminded about my non-existing power. It’s not that it’s a bad thing completely, there’s many people that is born powerless: the people of Satia. The norms are what we are commonly called as.

But it is a bad thing when you come from a family full of members that possess powers and you’re the only one that doesn’t, they view you like there’s something wrong with you.

Useless.

They didn’t even spare a glance at me after knowing that I didn’t have any powers and just sent me off to Satia without caring, all of them except my brother.

“Yeseul?”

I hummed in reply before talking, “I’m going to get ready now okay? They should be here any seconds now”

Donghae reminded me again for the last time that I should never think myself as useless and I repeatedly say that I get it and that he should stop nagging.

With that, he hung up and at the same time I could see 12 figures approaching from a distance.

I took a deep breath and nodded to encourage myself, “You can do this Yeseul”.

From a distance, I saw them stopping for awhile and saw a guy pointing at me. He’s probably asking who I was.

They really don’t have time for this though, aren’t they being chased or something?

I raised my right hand to the air impatiently and waved at them to come over quickly.

Thankfully they did, sprinting across and soon enough we are finally face to face.

”Welcome aboard? I guess, well go ahead and enter” I shouted because the plane has already started its engine, it was already too loud for us to speak in normal tone.

They went in quickly and I was the last to enter. I quickly shut the door and took my place in the cockpit.

After I settled down and pushed a few buttons; I began to notify them that we are preparing for takeoff.

”I’ll skip the long introduction and safety instructions, we don’t have time for that. You all know what to do and if you don’t, ask the person who does. We’ll be taking off soon”

Then I pushed the speaker button off and took a deep breath. Flying first time without a copilot? This is insane. 

”Okay, let’s hope there’s no turbulence or anything later on”

I spoke too soon! Why the hell am I doing this alone, I thought to myself bitterly as I try to get through the turbulence myself.

I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this as well. 

I’m doing a great job even without a co-pilot, don’t I at least get something in return?

Sure, it is an honor to be able to fly with the apprentices but what’s bothering me is that how am I supposed to tell my instructors that I flew a plane without a license?

I’ll get dropped for being reckless for sure.

My thoughts are greatly interrupted when suddenly something hits me from the back with great force.

My body lunges forward, hitting the controller and I groaned in pain. What the hell was that?

I quickly leaned back and inspect the controls quickly to see whether I have accidentally pushed a button but fortunately I didn’t.

“Elyxioner zero-six, cleared to land runway one-niner”

I could hear the air traffic controllers starts to inform me one by one that it is clear to land.

I replied to them about my current whereabouts in the same dictionary, at the same pace calmly; just up until when I couldn’t feel the ground on my feet and the seat that I was sitting at.

“What the-“ My sentence got cut off by my own scream because the plane suddenly declined at a great speed.

But not only that, it’s also because I seem to be floating up in the air— I could feel my back reaching the ceiling.

This is certainly not because on the plane declining.

“What’s going on?” Kyungsoo asked loudly, it came out as a shout to make himself heard.

The plane is filled with shouts and screams as the plane continues to decline in great speed.

Everyone is too busy screaming and shouting as they hold onto the handles of seats, trying to make their way to the emergency exit.

Some already trying to break the exit open by force.

Suho, who happens to be near the cockpit let himself in and if the plane crashing is not shocking enough, he saw Yeseul floating up in the air.

Yes, it is normal to see a pilot in a cockpit but it’s definitely not normal if the pilot is stuck on the ceiling while screaming.

“I can’t go down!” She shouted and continues to scream. Suho stared at her wide eyes and not long after that, he could feel something burning inside him.

His powers, to be exact and that is when he began to realize that Yeseul is chosen by the power of flight.

He could feel that his power energy is getting recharged, getting stronger every second until  he’s afraid he might unleash fire out of a sudden.

The plane crashing down is enough catastrophe, he can’t burn it at the same time by accident!

Suho froze on his spot and Yeseul screamed, “Get me down! The plane!”

Chanyeol came in tumbling not long after that and Yeseul shouted the same thing over and over again to him

The tallest immediately grabbed her arm to pull her down to the pilot’s seat easily, it wasn’t hard but she kept floating away from her seat that he had to pin her by pushing her shoulder down.

Without asking what was happening to her, Yeseul immediately tried her best to control the plane once again. Her hands were as fast as lightning when pushing the buttons that Chanyeol weren’t aware of what it is for.

Soon enough, the plane stabilized but they were still flying so low and too near to the sea surface. Yeseul’s eyes is completely focused on what is ahead of her, trying her best to lift the plane back up to the sky.

When she did, another obstacle surfaced.

In front of them is Deldara and the first thing that they saw is its mountains covered in snow. It is supposed to be a beautiful sight but in this situation, they find it terrifying as it is so near to them.

Yeseul calculated the distance and time whether it is possible for her to slow down and lift the plane up but her eyes widened in panic when she realized that it’s not possible.

They will crash to one of the mountains and all she could do is slow it down by seconds.

“Teleport everyone out! Now!”

Suho immediately scrambled his way out of the cockpit with Chanyeol before shouting on top of his lungs, “Everyone hold hands! Don’t ever let go!”

Chanyeol automatically find his way towards Yina; the power enhancer and she quickly nodded, understanding what to do amidst the chaos happening around then.

Everyone held hands tightly in a long line and Chanyeol quickly double check to see whether he got all of them when suddenly Baekhyun from the far end exclaimed, “How about Yeseul?”

Chanyeol cursed when he forgot about her, she’s still in the cockpit alone trying to delay the crash. He quickly scans the distance and saw Sehun happens to be on the end of the line and also the nearest to the cockpit.

“Sehun could you-“

“On it, everyone move with me!”

He quickly leads the line and successfully enters the cockpit without letting go. Without warning, he grabbed one of Yeseul’s which was busy on the controls.

“What are you doing?” Yeseul shouted at him and was about to pull her hand back but Sehun gripped it tighter.

“Saving your from dying” he replied in a louder tone before looking back to nod, signaling that that he got her.

Chanyeol and Yina saw this as the cockpit’s door is wide open and together, both of them combined their power.

The plane started to drop dangerously again as soon as Yeseul lets go of the controls and everyone screamed in unison.

However, the screams faded when they find themselves being into the teleportation hole again.

It felt like their oxygen is being out as well and again, it is not a pleasant condition to be in but then again, they are thankful that Chanyeol could save them once again.

But that doesn’t mean they won’t complain after they get out of the dizzying experience.

They soon find themselves on the ground, literally as if they were dropped from the sky.

Chanyeol is the first to get up from the ground, staring at the environment that he teleported them.

It looks like they’re in a dense jungle but their exact location is still unknown to him.

It is until he could see tall mountains from a far behind them, covered in snow and that’s when he realized that they are probably in the middle of Deldara where its neither cold or hot.

He frowned, “We still have a long way to go then”

The place that they initially wanted to land to is the city of Deldara; located on the East side. It is where most of the population live despite it being a desert.

Not only they seldom see Deldarians roaming around other continents unlike the rest— the idea of the city being separated by tall gates and people living in deserts makes it more mysterious.

He kept staring at the snowy mountains, thinking that it is fortunate he did not teleport them there when suddenly he saw a plane appear from the side; narrowly dodging the first mountain.

His eyebrows furrowed an